Clemson Girls best in the world! Music Playlist at MixPod.com

I am writing to tell you that I will be moving to blog at wordpress. I loved blogging here but I feel that I can say a lot more about life in general at my new blog. You are of course very welcome to read everything there and I will still try to comment on everyone’s blogs here. I will have a special section devoted just to sports so if you want to change your Link List to that it is http://whywalk.wordpress.com/sports. The homepage for my new blog is just http://whywalk.wordpress.com. Thank you everyone for reading here and please continue reading and giving me your fabulous comments at my new blog! You are wonderful!

So it’s been longer than I wanted it to be but I got a little bit busy this week. I will probably shoot for one entry a week. Hopefully I can handle that.

Cardinals

Not much has really happened with the Cardinals but can I just want to say that I really want John Smoltz back. I really like him and the cardinals need more pitching. He is on my wish list for the Cards.

Tigers

We beat Maryland! I was not sure it was going to happen especially with Stitt out but they did it! I am so proud of them. Now they just need to beat Virginia Tech this weekend. They have given us problems in the past but we should be able to beat them if they actually show up and play.

Indians

Just waiting for Spring Training.

Olympics

Just waiting for the Opening Ceremony.

And now for a song! Let’s see if I can still do these…

Fuzzy Blue Lights- Owl City

This song kind of feels like the offseason to me. It is kind of melancholy and has the same mood that I do when I have no baseball to get me through the day.

If I could look across the country

From California to New Jersey

Then I would count the parks and lake resorts

And number all the jets and airports.

Al those rather dreary rain clouds still bother me

Because I look through the camera eyepiece and cannot see.

The rain clouds part is my life right now. Clemson has two- three seasons from what I can tell. HOT, Pleasant, and then rain until you drown. We are currently in rain until you drown and since my rain boots have holes in them I am not well prepared. And rain makes me feel dreary and I have no baseball to cheer me up.

If I could open up my window

And see from tampa Bay to Juno

Then I would survey all those open miles

And line them up in single file

Everywhere I look I see green scenic sublime

And all those oceanic vistas

Are so divine.

If I were standing on the balcony

And you were walking down below

I’d feel rather depressed and out of place

And lonely just to watch you go

If you were swinging from the highway overpass

Within the western hemisphere

I’d feel rather afraid and insincere

If you began to disappear

This is how I feel when baseball leaves for the winter. Depressed and out of place and lonely. Come back baseball!

If I was walking through a sad art gallery

And you were driving through the night

I’d feel rather alone and ill at ease

Beneath the brilliant showroom light.

If I was flying on a plane above your town

And you were gazing at the sky

Somehow I’d feel intact and reassured

If you began to wave good-bye.

But the song ends with hope and feeling reassured because Spring Training is coming! It is almost here everyone!

Some people’s least favorite days are Mondays. This semester mine are Tuesdays. I have class from 8 AM-8 PM. Not straight but only with like 2 hour breaks in between. And night classes are terrible in case you were wondering.

Indians

Fausto Carmona’s Winter ball numbers were very good. Winter Ball numbers may not mean a lot in terms of what will actually happen during the season but they should, at the very least, give him some confidence that I think he was sorely missing last year. With Fausto I think the mental aspect of the game is most of the battle. He seems to have the pure talent but is often unable to perform at his best during games which is usually a sign of a mental issue more than anything. This gained confidence will hopefully help him going into this season. I am very excited for the Indians season this year. I think it will be interesting and I am hoping much less depressing than last year.

Cardinals

At this point I am just waiting for the Cardinals season to start. I am so excited for this team. I am looking for a much improved Colby Rasmus, more amazing performances from Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter, Matt Holliday, and of course Alber Pujols being ridiculous as usual.

Tigers

So my basketball Tigers have been letting me down recently. Losing to Georgia Tech is unacceptable for me. I cannot stand the Yellow Jackets. I did not like them very much before this year but after this football season I despise them. Almost as much as South Carolina. Almost. Losing to Duke was expected but I wish they had made it a little closer in the end. It looked like they just gave up. I really need Tanner Smith to step it up a little. On the bright side I think the Clemson students really showed up for Gameday. I could not go but I saw some on TV and everyone was so loud that I could not even hear the announcers. Good job students!

Olympics

This is a new topic for this post and probably a few more in the future. I am getting really excited for the Olympics this year. I like the Winter Olympics a lot more than the Summer Olympics. I do not really know why that is but I get much more excited for the Winter Olympics than Summer and when the Summer Olympics I find myself wishing the Winter Olympics were on that year too.

Anyway I think everyone should be super excited for this year’s Men’s Figure Skating Team and the Ice Dancing Team. The men are led by Evan Lysacek, Reigning World Champion and my favorite, with Jeremy Abbott, who I had not heard of before but is the reigning US Champion, and Johnny Weir, I am not a fan of his but he does turn in very artistic performances. The Ice Dancers have two very strong teams, Tannith Belbin and Ben Agosto and Meryl Davis and Charlie White, and one very good and young team as well, Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates. For the first time in a long time the American Ice Dancers ahve two legitimate shots to medal I think. If you have not seen Meryl Davis and Charlie White skate before check out this video. They are mesmerizing to watch:

Next up I may try to make some predictions for how the divisions will end up this year. I’m not a big fan of predictions but they are kind of fun to do anyway!

Today former Cardinal player and new Cardinal Hitting Coach Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids off and on for about a decade. Thank you Mark for finally admitting this. We all pretty much knew but thank you. Now, everyone else, can we move on please? He has admitted it, said it was “foolish”, and apologized. When A-Rod got caught and apologized you forgave him. When Andy Petitte got caught and admitted it you forgave him? Why do I have a feeling you will not be forgiving McGwire? McGwire admitted to this when he didn’t have to. His name wasn’t leaked from the list like A-Rod’s, there was very little substantial evidence outing him and he admitted to it anyway. His apology, to me, gains a lot more credibility because of this. I hope the media takes a bit of time on this and then moves on like they did just last year with A-Rod. (Note: When I say “you” I am not necessarily addressing YOU the reader of this blog but mostly the media people.)

Indians

It’s pretty quiet on the Indians front.

UPDATE: Indians sign Mark Grudzielanek to a minor league deal.

Tigers

The basketball Tigers beat Boston College! I was there in the third row on the floor! They play the Tar Heels Wednesday. I cannot attend this game because I have work. But that’s okay, I don’t want to sleep in the 30 degree weather anyway. This game may be closer than expected. UNC has been a little off lately. We can only hope.

I have decided that I will order the blog with Indians, Cardinals, and finally the Tigers unless something huge happens in one of the categories and then that category will go first. For example, today the Cardinals have the biggest news story so they go first.

Cardinals

Matt Holliday has signed with the Cardinals. Finally. That kind of fulfills my first wish for the Cardinals this new year. I don’t have that much of a problem with the money in the deal but seven years is a long time. Let me help you picture this:

In seven years when Matt Holliday’s contract runs out I hope to have not only finished my Undergrad degree but also the first of my Master’s degrees and possibly working on the second one. I hope to be teaching either first grade or special education in an underprivileged elementary school somewhere in the Rockies near Denver or Colorado Springs. I hope to be married with at least one kid and a dog. That’s a lot of life. And Matt Holliday will still be with the Cardinals. It’s kind of scary.

A lot of people are saying that the Cardinals will not be able to afford Pujols now when he becomes a free agent. I, however, find it hard to believe that the Front Office was not taking that into consideration when making this contract with Holliday. I think they are positive that somehow they will be able to come up with the money to sign Pujols when they need to; there is no way this Front Office was going to risk losing Albert. I suppose this may mean higher ticket prices and the Cardinals already have some of the highest in the country but I know that many St. Louisans will see this as a necessary evil. I hope they have some other way to bring in revenue but they may not.

Indians

The Indians signed Shelley Duncan and Austin Kearns to minor league deals. Formed Indian Roberto Alomar also missed the Hall of Fame by 1.3%. I hope he eventually gets in and think that he probably will but I really think he deserved to be in this year.

Tigers

The basketball Tigers lost to Duke on Sunday which was expected. They play Boston College this Saturday. Hopefully I will get to go but ticketing has been weird and very popular this year so I may not get a ticket. I will of course let you know how that turns out.

So my New Year’s Resolution this year is too start writing again. I am going to try to schedule it into my day so I can get back into the habit of writing. I apologize for the long absence but I just got busy and eventually I got out of the habit of posting anything.

You may have noticed that m title changed. I decided that I will probably talk about the St. Louis Cardinals enough for them to get a mention in my title. I will always love St. Louis so why not talk about them too?

Indians

The Indians have not done too much this off season. They lost a player and gained a player in the Rule 5 and have only made a few other moves, including signing Anthony Reyes to a minor league deal after non-tendering him.

Probably their most significant so far has been trading Kelly Shoppach to the Rays for a PTNBL. This leaves the catcher position to Lou Marson, who seems like he could be a very solid player until Santana is ready. I liked Marson a lot from what I saw at the end of 2009.

Cardinals

The Cardinals have had a much more exciting Hot Stove season. They lost Mark DeRosa to the Giants, which made me sad but is probably best for both parties. They signed Brad Penny which is fine with me, just fine. They lost Troy Glaus to the Braves (most likely) which is another move that I approve of. They are currently pursuing Matt Holliday who has reportedly refused their first offer.

Here is what I want from this offseason for the Cardinals:

1) Matt Holliday- for a reasonable price. With Scott Boras as an agent that may be asking too much. However the market for him does not appear to be too large but you never know what may happen.

2) John Smoltz- I just like him a lot.

3) No more Rick Ankiel- He has a great story but I think it’s time he go somewhere else. I wish him well wherever that is.

Tigers

The football Tigers lost a heartbreaker to Georgia Tech, solidifying my hatred for the Yellow Jackets. They went on to the Music City Bowl which was obviously a much worse bowl than they deserved and is a prime example of how the bowl system is screwed up and beat Kentucky. Although they looked terrible doing it. I got to go and it was a lot of fun. It was very cold though. It even started flurrying which prompted cries of “Snow!” from the Clemson fans and no reaction from the Kentucky fans. I will miss CJ Spiller next year and I hope the NFL sees how much better he is than the College Football world gives him credit for and he goes with a very early pick in the Draft.

The basketball Tigers lost a heartbreaker to Illinois during Finals week. I was there and it was terrible watching the Illini climb back into the game after Clemson led by 20 points at one time. I don’t have very high hopes for this team this year; they just don’t seem as smart as they did last year.

Stuff you expected me to mention…

Grady’s pictures- I haven’t seen them and I don’t plan on it. It was stupid for him to put them on the Internet if he didn’t want anyone to see them. That is my only comment.

I thought today I would try to explain my feelings about the Victor Martinez trade. As I mentioned before I am mostly over the disappointment but it still makes me very sad sometimes. Victor really was the heart and soul of this team. He was the type of player who would have accepted a paycut to stay with the Indians forever. And his dedication showed in how he played. Earlier this season he did somethings that I did now agree with but I forgave him and by the time the Trade (as I call it) happened I had pretty much forgotten. The surprising about this trade for me was that Victor was not even one of my top three favorite players on the Indians but I was devastated when they traded him. I mean devastated. I cried as hard as I cry at the end of Finding Neverland. I made a Victor playlist on iTunes. I figured when I could get through the playlist without tearing up I would be mostly over it. That took until about the middle of August and I still can’t watch the interview Victor gave the day he left. And his son’s hopeful question the morning of the Trade still chokes me up: “Daddy are we still Indians?” One song on that playlist in particular describes my feelings pretty well.

Breathe- Taylor Swift (by the way, Kanye is a jerk, okay moving on)

I see your face in my mind as I drive away

Cause none of us thought it was gonna end that way

People are people and sometimes we change our minds

But it’s killing me to see you go after all this time

I don’t think anyone could have told you that Victor would be traded this year when the year started. But as the season got worse and it became clearer and clearer that the Indians were not going to the playoffs this year the Front Office realized that this was probably the best time to trade their aging catcher and get something really good for him. Especially with Carlos Santana in the minors Victor did not really have a place with this team in the future for what he deserved to be paid.

Music starts playing lie the end of a sad movie

It’s the kind of ending you don’t really want to see

Cause it’s tragedy and it’ll only bring you down

Now I don’t what to be without you around.

At first it was very hard to imagine what the team would be without Victor. He embodied this team, it took a long time for me to accept that he was gone and not coming back.

And we know it’s never simple, never easy

Never a clean break, no one here to save me

You’re the only thing I know like the back of my hand

I do not think the Front Office would tell you it was easy for them to make this trade and I do not think that would a PR lie either. Victor meant a lot to the organization as a whole and trading him was probably ne of the hardest moves Shapiro has had to make.

And I can’t breathe without you

But I have to

Breathe without you but I have to

Never wanted this never want to see you hurt

Every little bump in the road I tried to swerve

But people are people and sometimes it doesn’t work out

Nothing we say is going to save us from the fallout

Victor’s interview upon leaving was very sad and emotional. I have not watched it but I know he was very upset about leaving, so upset he was fighting back tears. Unfortunately he could not stay in Cleveland.

So I lied last time. I did not stay back. I have been awfully busy and it has been hard to get back into the habit of writing entries. I promise I will try to do better.

Since I’ve been gone Grady has had two surgeries that will keep him out for the rest of the season. Personally I think this should have happened a long time ago because I don’t know what good it was doing to have him keep playing. I know it was not hurtung but it was not necessarily helping. Ocassionally it may have helped the Indians win a game or two but I do not think anyone thought that the Indians had a chance at the playoffs even in July.

Which brings us to July and the month of trades. The Cliff Lee trade was tough and I was sad but the Victor Martinez was awful. I was in a baseball depression for probably about a month. Sometimes I still have relapses and seeing him in a Red Sox uniform is still tough. I think the last series between the Red Sox and Indians will be very difficult for me to watch. I would not rule out tears. However I love Justin Masterson. He may not have been very impressive in a few of his starts but I have seen some real potential and he is a great guy off the field.

New in my life: I have decided to stay an Early Childhood Education major. I know some of you were excited about hearing college students shout “Melissa” at college football games but I went to what I thought would be my last ever education class and remembered why I loved Early Childhoos so much. So I am back on track to be a kindergarten/first grade teacher in the inner city. Right now I would like that city to be Cleveland but I would not mind back home in St. Louis or maybe Boston. But even though I don’t like the cold I have decided that I could not live in the south, I think I fit in more in the north. I still love the south though, I just think I will be ready for all four seasons again when I graduate.

Here’s a video for everyone’s enjoyment about my second favorite team and secodn favorite player:

So I’m back now. Hopefully for awhile. I find it hard to write when i don’t have an everyday routine so now that I’m back at Clemson and school is about to start hopefully I can get a routine going to help me stay on track better.

I’ve had a fairly uneventful summer. I worked, watched baseball, did homework, and just relaxed. I had a lot of fun though and the past two weeks have been eventful enough to fill a whole summer.

I’m an RA this year so I got to Clemosn early for RA Training. I met all of my fellow RA’s in Manning Hall and we are like a big family now. I feel like I have known these girls for years. Training was a lot of fun but very tiring. It was filled with late nights and early mornings and full days with no naps. I am now a very big fan of sleep.

Apparently even though I haven’t been writing I still made it on the latest leaders list so I will be doing a tribute entry today to get back into the swing of things.

I was number 25 on the Latest Leaders the last time it came out. So today I will be doing a tribute to:

Andy Marte!

I refuse to do a tribute to Mark McGwire for obvious reasons.

Andy Marte was signed by the Atlanta Braves in 2000. He was traded to the Boston red Sox in 2005 for Edgar Rentaria. Then in the same off season the Red Sox traded Marte and Shoppach and Randy Newsom to the Indians for Coco Crisp, Josh Bard, and David Riske. Marte looked to be a rising star but in 2008 when he was with the Indians he had a very mediocre season. Some say he was mismanaged by Eric Wedge and others say he is not a very good major league baseball player. That remains to be seen as Marte is back with the Indians in 2009 after being given a second chance due to a phenomenal start in Triple-A this year. I have high hopes for Marte but I am unsure of whether or not his future will be with the Indians. I would think that with the players available to the Indians in the next few years either Marte or Peralta will be traded this offseason. We will see what happens.

Okay everyone so I have not been writing much lately due to an insane amount of homework that I, as usual, put off until the last minute. It was very interesting though. I will try to explain it later.

#15- Jim Edmonds

In the tradition of MLBlogs my dedication entry today will be about Jim Edmonds. Jim Edmonds was the Cardinals center fielder known for his exciting plays in the outfield. He played for the Cardinals from 2000- 2007. Jim Edmonds began his career with the California Angels (before the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the United States of the World of the Solar System of the Milky Way of the Universe). He was drafted out of high school and debuted in the major leagues in 1993 with the Angels. In his rookie season many did not think he had the makings of a Major League ballplayer because of his easygoing and laid back attitude. After seven years with the Angels, Jim was traded to the Cardinals after butting heads with the new manager. The Cardinals quickly signed him to a contract extension and he stayed there until 2007. He was part of the World Series Championship team in 2006. He was known for spectacular catches and good slugging.

Homework

My homework was all about female sports journalists. I learned a lot including there are not many and men are jerks (just kidding). I learned about all of the horrible things many female sports journalists went through and sometimes still go through. I learned it is a tough job but that most women are still very satisfied with their jobs despite in many cases a lack of ability to advance in the profession. I also learned that the situation has been improving in recent years but that boys are still boys and often sources and colleagues are still very rude and sometimes downright nasty. I will not describe some of the horrors some of these women have endured because children read this and they are truly terrible and inappropriate. This information has not deterred me from goals however. maybe because I am naive or I have too much faith in the world to be a better place but I am not going to give up my dream because some people cannot accept that women can be just as knowledgeable about sports as men.

Meta

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